Just finished my boxes and installed a Directed Crossover, getting the Alpine 9853 installed tomorrow. Going from sealed to ported I was a little nervous on the outcome, but having heard both I wouldn't go back to sealed. I would have always said that I prefer SQ over SPL, but now I'm having to retract that opinion, SPL all the way.
Oh, I suppose this first post makes me a Noob again, but so far I enjoy the site. Hope you like the boxes.

 

What box material did you use?

 

I used 3/4" MDF, when the box was finished I sprayed 2 coats of primer and 2 coats of textured spray paint. It looks alright, but it was just quicker to do that than other types of finishing. I thought it would be cool to have bed-liner sprayed on them, but pricey. Here are the specs I got from Diamond---

I worked on them on and off in the evenings and they took me about 5 weeks to complete.

 

I have found in my experience that if you have more power than you know what to do with that sealed is the way to go. However if you have a small amp and you would like to get more out of it that ported box's are louder but will not hit as low, you know that ripple that runs up you back, ported give you a loud paperflex sounding bass where with big power sealed is more controllable and deeper sound. I always say if you listen to rock/r&b/rap ported is the way to go with a moderate sized amp, r&b/rap with a big amp go sealed you will not have to be at the warrany shop as much.

Remember, to all the people you read this, all the amps and subs in the world need enough power. Lack of power creates heat and heat is car audio's enemy. Anytime you under power something it struggles to maintain its output and clips and creates heat and will go thermal. Big power equals a power upgrade to you electrical system and a cap is a bandaid on a bullet wound, alternators are where the power is born.

Blah Blah Blah
hope someone got something out of this!

 

you forgot the dual purpose optima yellow top!

 

what about a yellow top ?

 

once you upgrade to a high output alternator i would recommend an optima. especially if you have a powerful system that will be taking out power and draining your battery very often, not only do optimas have double the life but they also recharge alot faster than your ordinary battery and can be drained/charged more as well. so it would also be a big + to your system.

 

yep! i like optima as well, its just most people add more batteries and never upgrade alternators. With a factory 70 amp alternator and a 100 amp stereo draw all the batteries in the world will not help! But yah a yellow top you can deep cycle without harm and charges/recharges more times and more optimally ( wow that was stupid )

 

So youre saying a 300 watt amp will eventually destroy a...lets say 12W7, which requires 1000 watts.

 

no, i was saying if an amp eats up 75 amps and you only have a 65amp alternator that if you are pushing the amp to its max then the lack of feed will stress the amp and it will heat up, heat is bad cause be all know that electronics are powered by smoke and if you let the smoke out it will no longer work.

Either way any dual voice coil speaker can blow an amp if it is wired work, normally people go parallel to bridged and 1 ohm an amp to death.